Transcript hypothetical student government elections

WHAT IS THE CHARTER & HOW DOES IT APPLY TO US?
Section 2(b) of the Charter
2. Everyone has the following fundamental
freedoms:
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and
expression, including freedom of the press
and other media of communication;
HYPOTHETICAL
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
As the end of the academic year approaches,
student council elections are being held at Pierre
Trudeau Secondary School (PTSS). Two
candidates in grade 11 are running for president:
Angelina and Eric.
In an attempt to make sure campaigns are
conducted fairly, PTSS’ administration has
outlined and distributed a set of rules for
candidates to follow.
PTSS’ RULES FOR CAMPAIGN
The following rules apply to our hypothetical:
5. Candidates may raise any school-related issues in their
campaign material as long as they are not prohibited by the
principal, Mr. Keegstra.
8. Candidates may not make comments in their campaign
material that are insulting or malicious to other candidates.
10. All of the rules outlined above are applicable only to
campaign materials posted or distributed in PTSS.
CAMPAIGN ISSUES
In preparation for her campaign, Angelina asked her
friends what the biggest concern that they had about
their school was. They told her that it was the removal
of their weekly assembly. When Angelina and her
friends were in grade 9, the principal of PTSS was Mr.
Irwin. Mr. Irwin required that every Friday morning,
teachers cancel their classes and bring their students to
the auditorium to voice and discuss any problems that
were part of their school experience. When Angelina
was in grade 10, Mr. Irwin left PTSS and Mr. Keegstra
replaced him. Mr. Keegstra refused to continue these
weekly assemblies, saying he “hated hearing students
complain”.
Dispute #1
Angelina made campaign posters that said:
“Vote Angelina! If elected, I will reinstate the
weekly assembly!”.
When Mr. Keegstra saw these posters, he told
Angelina to immediately take them down,
since he prohibited the discussion of weekly
assemblies as an issue according to rule 5.
Dispute #2
Eric knew that the best way to reach his fellow students and
encourage them to vote for him was to create a Facebook group for
himself. In the description of his group, he wrote:
“Our student council has never had a female president and there’s a
good reason for that- girls don’t know how to lead councils! Don’t
trust Angelina- make the right choice and vote for me!”
When Angelina saw this posting, she complained to Mr. Keegstra
that it was against rule 8 but he replied that since the comment was
on Facebook and not in the school, rule 10 applied and so Eric was
doing nothing wrong.
QUOTES & CASE LAW PRINCIPLES
1.
Expression encompasses all activities that convey
or attempt to convey meaning.
2.
An exception to freedom of expression has been
suggested where the repulsion of the content of
the expression (such as hate propaganda) has
been recognized.
3.
The Charter protects the right to receive
expressive material as much as it does the right
to create it.
4.
It is universally recognized that the reputation of
a person is and always has been an important
value which the law must protect. Canadian
judges have weighed more heavily the value of
personal reputation over those of free speech
and free press.
5.
The guarantee of freedom of expression serves
to protect the right of the minority to express its
view, however unpopular it may be; adapted to
this context, it serves to preclude the majority's
perception of "truth" or "public interest" from
smothering the minority's perception.
6.
The fact is that censorship always defeats its own
purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of
society that is incapable of exercising real
discretion.
7.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to
the death your right to say it.
8.
If we don't believe in freedom of expression for
people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.
9.
Young players need freedom of expression to
develop as creative players... they should be
encouraged to try skills without fear of failure.